Among the crowd of 100 people from Tarleton,Hesketh Bank,Banks, and Rufford, were members of three of the respective parish councils, who heard opening addresses by the County Councillor for the area, Malcolm Barron, and prominent Tarleton Parish Councillor, Jim Kay.

Councillor Barron informed the meeting of the timeline for potential closures of libraries and the withdrawal of subsidies for buses and the effects this would have.

He stressed that the current criteria for closure was based on population statistics for the libraries catchment areas rather than current usage, which puts all rural facilities at risk.

While final decisions on which libraries are to close will not be made until September, the County has already been divided into specific areas for consideration with Tarleton, Burscough and Parbold libraries grouped in one division with at least one of these to be closed.

Representatives of the eleven voluntary groups based within the library explained the negative social, educational, health and employment impact that the library closure would have.

Councillor Kay stressed that closure of the library coupled with the potential removal of the bus service to Ormskirk, via Burscough, would leave pensioners, the young, poor, and migrant workers virtually isolated.

He suggested that any financial saving made by the closure of the Tarleton library, rented by the County at a nominal £200 a year, would be offset by the cost of pensioners using subsidised bus services should these be retained.

There were calls from some at the meeting to appeal directly to the European Parliament for a ruling on the legality of closures. Failure of the County to consider alternative arrangements such as joint funding with local councils, businesses and voluntary groups, as occurs in other parts of the country, was also heavily criticised.

Further public meetings on the closures are now planned, possibly in conjunction with representatives from other areas under threat.